February 13, 2023
By Anjali Kochhar
Last year saw a rise in blockchain gaming and the global blockchain gaming market is estimated to grow 70.3 per cent (CAGR) in the next 5 years, according to a report by MarketsAndMarkets. The report suggested that by 2027, this industry is likely to be valued at USD 65.7 billion as opposed to USD 4.6 billion.
Amid this, we have come up with trends to look forward to in blockchain gaming in 2023:
Gaming and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
The usage of NFTs to represent special in-game objects is one potential trend. Unique digital assets known as NFTs are stored on a blockchain and can be purchased, sold, and traded just like regular assets. A lot of games in the blockchain domain are already following the same and the future is yet to come.
Poorvi Sachar, Head of Operations, Tezos India, stated, “NFTs could be used to represent items like collectible virtual goods or rare in-game weapons in the context of gaming. Due to their ability to freely buy and sell them on the open market, this could give players more ownership and control over the assets they use in-game.”
Om Malviya, Founder & President, Tezos India Foundation, said, “The use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to represent unique in-game assets, the growth of decentralised gaming platforms, and the creation of new business models like the usage of cryptocurrencies for in-game transactions are a few potential developments in the application of blockchain technology in gaming. Blockchain technology may also open up new gaming genres, such as decentralised multiplayer online games with completely customised virtual worlds.”
The transition from ‘traditional’ to ‘new-age’
A unique yet restrictive feature of traditional games is that they are highly centralised i.e the characters, rewards, weapons or even coding used to develop that game cannot be used elsewhere. Blockchain, however, is here to bring a change. This technology will allow users to acquire and use their rewards elsewhere. It enables professional gamers to earn real-life rewards.
A fancy term for this is “Play-to-Earn” or P2E. Thus, blockchain-based P2E games are likely to drive market growth, enabling users to EARN and OWN rewards.
“Blockchain gaming can become a ground-breaking, innovative, and entertaining platform for developing and storing in-game assets. It has changed gaming laws by reimagining it as a viable industry with various prospects due to its powerful data encryption technology”, reiterated Rohit Bansal, the founder of the fantasy gaming application Super4.
In terms of earnings, Ramkumar Subramaniam, CEO and Co-founder of NFT marketplace GuardianLink explained, “It is not just about P2E gaming where people can play games and earn money but also about passive income opportunities like gaming metaverse investments, fractional tokenized ownership, and even digital infrastructure investments.”
“Blockchain gaming is all set to open a new avenue for passive revenue. This could become one of the most lucrative spaces to invest in the blockchain space as crypto might not be at its best right now,” Subramaniam stated.
Generative AI, blockchain and gaming collaboration
The collaboration of gaming, blockchain and generative artificial intelligence can also be a potential game changer, this year, believe experts.
Generative AI describes algorithms, such as the brand-new ChatGPT, that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos.
“We’re going to see newer models & use cases emerge in the coming year. Gaming, blockchain and generative AI have the potential to blow so much wide open. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the next wave of wealth and value creation will come from a financial world that is programmable end-to-end. India could be at the centre of this next wave and boost its economy to strengthen its position on the world stage,” said Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder and CEO of Hike software.
A surge in unique active wallets (UAW)
In the blockchain universe, a platform called DappRadar exists, which provides users access to a wide range of blockchain-based platforms (in other words, dApps). DappRadar also tracks the number of UAWs or wallets on each dApp. So, how is this a trend for blockchain-based gaming?
According to DappRadar, Q2FY2022-23 reported 8 per cent month-on-month (912,000 accounts) interaction of UAWs in blockchain gaming. This accounts for 48 per cent of total UAWs existing in the industry.
Correlating these figures with the future, the MarketsAndMarkets report suggested that a surge in UAW interactions can create more opportunities for blockchain gaming to expand.
Overcoming Ethereum (ETH) dependency
Ethereum dominates the blockchain gaming industry – a fact that even non-active blockchain gamers know. In fact, it enjoyed the largest market share in 2022 and the same is expected for the future. Why? For two specific reasons — reduces security concerns and ensures that client data is safe without any leaks.
Popular games such as Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, Decentraland, etc use the ETH blockchain platform. So, what’s the issue? The public has easy access to this blockchain. And even though it promises security, it can breach or give away business secrets, data protection rules, etc. The blockchain is also vulnerable to attacks by miners.
Experts thus, predict the ETH market to grow but, at a slower pace. This dependency is likely to shift to other platforms like Solana, Polygon, and BNB Chain.
The end word…
“The blockchain gaming industry is expected to experience significant growth in the coming quarters of 2023. This trend is likely to continue as more games reach alpha and beta stages, providing new opportunities for game designers to create engaging and immersive gaming experiences using blockchain technology. Blockchain can enable the creation of complex in-game economies and allow players to trade unique assets,” predicts Vikram R. Singh, Founder, and CEO of blockchain development firm Antier.
Indeed, blockchain gaming has the potential to become the “new normal” in the gaming universe. However, the industry still has a lot to overcome including a ‘lack of awareness’ and ‘security concerns’ to make ground-breaking progress in 2023.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
